1. Field
The disclosed technology relates to a liquid crystal display (LCD) and a driving method thereof. More particularly, it relates to a liquid crystal display (LCD) and a driving method thereof to minimize leakage current and to reduce power consumption.
2. Description of the Related Technology
As a representative display device, a liquid crystal display (LCD) includes two display panels with pixel electrodes, a common electrode, and a liquid crystal layer having dielectric anisotropy interposed between the two panels. The pixel electrodes are arranged in a matrix format and are connected to a switch such as a thin film transistor (TFT) to sequentially receive a data voltage row by row. The common electrode is formed over the entire surface of the display panel to convey a common voltage. Together, the pixel electrodes, the common electrode, and the liquid crystal layer interposed between the pixel electrodes and the common electrode, form a liquid crystal capacitor, the liquid crystal capacitor and a switch connected thereto are a basic unit forming a pixel.
In an LCD, an electric field is generated in the liquid crystal layer by applying voltages to the two electrodes, and transmittance of light passing through the liquid crystal layer is controlled by driving the electric field to thereby display a desired image. In order to reduce circuit aging effects caused by the lengthy application of an electric field in one direction to the liquid crystal layer, the polarity of the data voltage with respect to the common voltage is inverted for respective frames, respective rows, or respective pixels.
So-called leakage current occurs in the pixels of an LCD This can cause a reduction in image quality such as a luminance change, a lined-pattern, and crosstalk. The leakage current flows when the switching transistor transmitting the data signal to the pixel is not completely turned-off, and as a result, an undesired data signal is applied to the pixel. For example, to input the data signal to the plurality of pixels, the gate electrodes of the switching transistors in the row direction are sequentially applied with a scan signal to transmit the data signals to the corresponding pixels. However if the leakage current flows through the turned-off switching transistors, it can prematurely age the pixels connected to the switching transistors, and thereby harm image quality.
The above information disclosed in this Background section is only for enhancement of understanding of the background of the invention and therefore it may contain information that does not form the prior art that is already known in this country to a person of ordinary skill in the art.